De wind in de zeilen hebben – “chwytać wiatr w żagle”: Dutch and Polish maritime metaphors in comparison

Abstract

This article underlines the great impact of navigation on the Dutch language. It contains a large number of Dutch maritime expressions and other terms derived from navigation and used in everyday language. The main aim of this article is to propose two different divisions of Dutch maritime idioms, which may clarify their figurative meaning. Furthermore, the author compares Dutch maritime metaphors to Polish examples, and eventually makes an attempt to answer the question whether Dutch maritime expressions were borrowed by Polish. There are many different Dutch loanwords (technical terminology) in Polish connected to navigation (eg. ship equipment elements).